The race officers spent aa couple of hours this morning trying to work out suitable courses for the various classes to run. It’s a bit of a thankless task in many respects although the competitors interviewed this week have had good words to say about the calls made thus far.

Following a two-hour postponement, first starts were at 1215 today, with most classes destined not to leave the central Solent although IRC Class 0 are being made to stretch their legs towards Yarmouth for the New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup.

The five-knots or less of north-westerly that greeted bleary eyes this morning has picked up and is backing to the south-west and pushing anenometers into double-figures although it is still fluky, depending on location. Heavy cloud pushing in from the west will kill the chance of sea breezes and it will also bring rain later on today to dampen the evening entertainment.

Tomorrow we are looking at light cyclonic breezes that should take a trip around all points of the compass. Although the wind will once again settle somewhere in the north for Saturday, the aged cyclone that some were getting excited about earlier in the week has decided to pass us by well to the north of Scotland, so the close-out will most likely be in relatively light breezes.

Who would be a race officer? Indeed!

For British mainland location weather and tides, plus European three-day synoptics, click here.